Gateway Copper Corridor Winter 2024 E-edition

Ranching couple
sees Scots cattle
prosper in Arizona
Story by David Sowders
Photos by Douglas Long
Jim and Carol Ptak’s Gryphon Ranch, in
the hilly El Capitan area south of Globe,
Arizona, got its start in western Washington
state 18 years ago.
“We only had 100 acres; it was mainly a hay
farm,” said Carol Ptak. It was after expanding
that hay farm, doubling it in size, that the Ptaks
were introduced to Scottish Highland cattle.
“The next year, we went to harvest again, and
we still had all that bad hay in the barn,” said
Carol. “At that point you have a choice: Either
pull it all out of the barn and burn it, or find
something to eat it.”
A friend suggested the “stupid-proof” Highland
breed, so called because “you can be pretty
stupid and still do well with them, because
they’re so durable and hardy.”
The Ptaks took that suggestion, buying a pair
of Highland steers. Their intent was to eat one
and sell the other. Discovering that it takes the
breed three years to grow up, they purchased
two more steers – and the couple’s venture into
ranching would take off from there.
“We had a neighbor down the road who had
Highlands and he had taken ill, so we ended
up boarding his breeding herd for six months,”
Carol said. “He paid us in cow-calf pairs, and
next thing you know we were off and running.”
On an early January day, stretches of the road
to Gryphon Ranch were covered in snow. As
she drove a side-by-side toward the ranch, Carol
said the road followed the original 19th century
stagecoach route from Tucson to Globe.
The move
The Gryphon Ranch – Arizona’s sole commercial
breeder of Highland cattle – has been
at El Capitan for 10 years. It has always been a
two-person “mom and pop” operation.
The Ptaks came to Arizona for the same
6 Gateway to the Copper Corridor Winter 2024